PIANO PRACTICE TIPS: An Electronic Newsletter--Archives
PRACTICE TIPS is an occasional email newsletter with practical
piano practice tips and ideas, by Brent Hugh.
This page contains the complete Practice Tips Archives, although it is not always up-to-date (it is updated a few times per year). To read the latest Practice Tips (an incomplete archive, but always containing the newest messages), visit http://www.topica.com/lists/practicetips/read
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PRACTICE TIPS is an occasional email newsletter with practical
piano practice tips and ideas, by Brent Hugh
You are receiving PRACTICE TIPS because you subscribed to PRACTICE
TIPS at the Practice Tips Web Page or because you are a student of
Brent Hugh. To end your PRACTICE TIPS subscription, see the
instructions at the end of this message.
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PRACTICE TIPS #37: Overlearning
-------------------------------
Here is a good tip from my Piano Practicing page
(http://www.mwsc.edu/~bhugh/piano-practice.html):
The main organ you are exercising when you practice the piano is not your
fingers, hands, or arms. It is your brain. Any one practice method-—no
matter how good it is--will cause the brain to tune out if used over and
over for hours on end. Practicing should be a creative and fun time, not
just a dull routine. By varying your practice techniques--using MANY
different techniques in every practice session, including techniques you
invent on the spot--you can keep your mind absorbed longer. You will then
retain much more of what you practice.
Practicing in a variety of ways, with a variety of touches, builds and
strengthens your memory more than anything else you can do. Many pianists
complain of memory difficulties when they have to play on a piano with a
different feel than the one they are used to. If you have practiced your
piece soft, loud, staccato, legato, with and without pedal, with five
different kinds of stops, hands separate, visualised it, counted it,
recorded it, played it with metronome at a variety of tempos, and practiced
in small and large sections until they were flawless—-you probably won’t
have that problem. You will be used to playing your piece with a variety of
touches and in a variety of situations.
Psychologists call kind of practice "overlearning" and they find that
tremendous amounts of overlearning are necessary for any kind of performer
who wishes to have peak performing experiences.
Happy Practicing!
--Brent
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PRACTICE TIPS is by pianist, teacher, composer, and internet nerd
Brent Hugh. Brent knows about practicing mostly because he *does*
it, and in fact is toddling off to do some of it just about now . . .
Please remember that this tip is but a small spot near the middle of the
elephant's left ear--it's not even close to the whole elephant that is
"how everyone in the whole world should practice the piano".
Practice Tips Archives (updated about once a month):
http://www.mwsc.edu/~bhugh/practicetips/
You are welcome to forward PRACTICE TIPS to others as long as the
ENTIRE message, including this trailer, is forwarded. Friends can
find out how to subscribe to PRACTICE TIPS at
<http://www.mwsc.edu/~bhugh/practice-tips.html>
=======================================================================
++++++++++++ Brent Hugh / bhugh@griffon.mwsc.edu ++++++++++++++
+ Missouri Western St College Dept of Music, St. Joseph, MO +
+ Piano Home Page: http://www.mwsc.edu/~bhugh +
+ Internet Piano Concert: http://www.mwsc.edu/~bhugh/recit +
++++ Classical Piano MP3s: http://www.mp3.com/brent_d_hugh ++++
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